


A Gang Thing

by ru_salki99 (orphan_account)



Category: Oz (TV)
Genre: Alternate Reality, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Romance, Secret Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-10-19
Updated: 2011-10-19
Packaged: 2017-10-24 18:58:46
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,489
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/266765
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/ru_salki99
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Slight AR - What if Ryan and Miguel had met before coming to Oz?</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Gang Thing

**Author's Note:**

> Un-Betad

Miguel wasn’t sure what he was doing here. He had been thinking about it for a long time now but had never actually gone through with it. He had nearly just bit the bullet and came inside once, even making it as far as the line of people out front. But he’d never had the balls to actually do it. To actually go inside. But tonight, tonight he had made it. He was finally inside.

He was stood in a corner, half way between the bar and the exit, beer in hand and doing his best not to stare at the swarm of heaving bodies on the dance floor, all bare skin and sweat. Strong hands roaming over flat chests, caressing the moist skin.

And Miguel, he wanted nothing more than to pull his t-shirt off and go join them.

He had always known he was ‘different’ but he had pushed it down, blamed it on the lack of male influence in his upbringing. You spend all your time with women, then their habits were bound to rub off on you right? And so he’d never acted on those feelings, never felt the need to. Until recently that was.

The more and more time he spent with Maritza, the more and more he wanted to find out what it would be like to feel what she felt, to have strong arms around him, protecting him, to give up control and just lose himself to the sensations.

So he’d left the safety of the Bronx and made his way into Manhattan and towards the gay quarter, gay village, whatever they called it. He didn’t really care. He was here now, wanting to both try and find out if these feelings and doubts he was having were real and run away at the same time.

Lifting his beer to his lips, he downed the last few mouthfuls trying to decide whether to leave or not. But when he lowered it, he almost jumped out of his skin as standing right in front of him, ignoring all pretence of personal space, was a tall, dark haired guy, wearing a shit eating grin.

“You’re new,” he said to him.

“What?” Miguel asked, not sure what the hell this guy was getting at.

“I’m just saying,” the guy said with a shrug, “I’ve not seen you before.”

“You come here a lot then?” Miguel asked as he quickly skimmed his eyes over his body.

He was lean but toned, wearing some low slung pants and a dark wife beater. He had some tattoos, but that didn’t really mean shit as Miguel had plenty of those too, but still, they were noticeable against his pale skin even in the dim light, and he couldn’t help but be drawn to them.

“I come here enough,” he said, “You want another drink?”

And it was then that Miguel realised that this guy was hitting on him. A sense of utter fear washed through him as he had no idea how to handle this. Had he been back home he would have just beat the shit out of him, but he was sober enough to know that, that probably wasn’t the best thing to do in a place like this.

However, his near panic wasn’t enough to make this guy back off, in fact, Miguel was pretty sure he moving even closer.

“Maybe you’d prefer something stronger?” he asked with a quirk of his eyebrow.

Drugs? Yeah, Miguel could definitely use a little something, “What you got?” he asked curiously.

All of a sudden a finger appeared right in front of his nose and Miguel almost went cross-eyed trying to look at it. But finally, he managed to focus enough to take in what was unmistakably an ecstasy tablet.

He looked up at the guy once more, their eyes connecting in understanding and then that finger was pushing past his lips, inserting the pill into his mouth. He sucked on it gently, his eyes not looking away from the large sparkling ones in front of him, eyes that were filling up with undeniable lust.

As the finger was slowly removed, Miguel reached forward and grabbed the guy’s beer, using it to wash the pill down. Then he was reaching up, wrapping his hand behind this guy’s neck and pulling him down into a kiss.

It was the first time he’d ever kissed a guy, the first time a guy had ever kissed him. And no matter how much he wanted to, he couldn’t deny that it felt better than any kiss he’d had before. Any kiss Maritza had ever given him. As two strong arms wound round his body, nimble fingers tracing over his back, he wanted nothing more than for this kiss to go on for forever. But it wasn’t to be, as all too soon the guy pulled back from him.

“You wanna get out of here?” he asked, “This place is a dive.”

Miguel smiled, wanting to make a comment about how he was the one who’d said he was the regular here, but instead he just nodded and said “Sure.”

He was rewarded with a brilliant smile and another hard kiss before a strong hand gripped onto the back of his neck and steered him out of the club and across the street to a car. Miguel automatically hesitated for a moment, but at one smile from this mystery man, he decided to hell with it and climbed in.

“So where we going?” he asked as they drove away.

“Downtown, my brother’s place.”

“Your brother got a club?”

His companion snorted in amusement, “No, no. It’s his apartment. He doesn’t need it anymore so I use it at the weekends and for business and shit.”

Miguel nodded in understanding, trying not to think about the fact that he was more or less going home with this guy, who he had only met ten minutes ago. But he could feel the E starting to work, making him mellow out some and thought it best just to go with it for now.

They pulled up outside a dodgy looking apartment building, half of the apartments having broken and boarded up windows, trash piled up on the sidewalk. But before he got a chance to worry about it, he was pulled into a thoroughly distracting kiss.

“Alright?”

Miguel nodded, a happy sigh escaping from him as he did so, “Yeah.”

They got out of the car together and made their way inside, Miguel letting himself be led by the hand to the right apartment. The sound of fucking couples could be heard all around them, making Miguel wonder just what kind of business it was that this guy did here.

“This is it,” he said, unlocking the door and pulling Miguel inside without any preamble.

As the door was slammed shut, Miguel found himself pinned to the back of it as those lips assaulted his again. He moaned into his mouth, gripping at his shoulders and hair trying to pull him as close as possible. But the stranger had other ideas, detaching his mouth and kissing his way down Miguel’s jaw and neck. His fingers slipped underneath his t-shirt and fluttered over his stomach, making his skin tingle with an absolute need for more.

He knew it was the E, or that it was mostly the E that was making all of the soft touches and kisses make his skin feel like it was on fire. His t-shirt was soon pulled up and over his head and then he was being dragged by his belt loops into a tiny bedroom. He was lowered down onto the bed more gently than he had anticipated, but he wasn’t complaining, it felt nice and kinda hot to just let go, especially as that talented mouth was working its way down his body.

“Nice tattoo,” his new friend said as he kissed over his wrist to the back of his hand, where a black rose lay.

“Oh, it’s um. It’s just a…”

“A gang thing?” the guy asked as he brought his own hand up, showing a small shamrock on the back of it, “Yeah I know.”

“Right, so…” but whatever Miguel was about to say was cut off as he was kissed once more and then that mouth relocated itself to his stomach again.

“Oh God,” Miguel muttered as he felt a moist tongue licking at his navel, strong but sure hands unbuckling his belt, “I’ve never. I mean I’ve not… this is…”

The guy stopped what he was doing and smiled up at him, “What’s your name kid?” he asked.

“Uh, Miguel. My name’s Miguel.”

“Hey Miguel, I’m Ryan. How’s about you shut that pretty mouth of yours and let me suck your cock huh?” he asked with a smile as he lay another kiss on his stomach and finally flicked Miguel’s belt open.

~*~*~*~*~*~

FOUR MONTHS LATER

Miguel was sitting watching the TV when the gates to Em City opened to welcome their new resident. He wasn’t too interested though. Sure the guy (O’Reilly was his name) was apparently connected enough to get himself transferred out of Unit B and into Em City, which just didn’t happen, but Schillinger was his sponsor, which meant that the guy was white and probably some kind of nazi fuck or a biker aka not someone Miguel cared to know much about.

Besides, he was just a foot soldier. It wasn’t up to him to pay too much attention, that was for Carlos to do. And if the guy was deemed a threat, then he would go find out more information. For now though, he had some important Miss Sally to watch.

However, as old Vern sauntered past them, his new friend in tow, Miguel couldn’t help but look up and what he saw almost made him fall off his seat. There, standing in front of him, looking right at him was none other than Ryan, his mysterious Irish lover Ryan… what the fuck?

Luckily, he had managed to keep himself somewhat composed, kept himself facing the TV, his face impassive, but he knew his eyes were practically bugging out of his head, and his leg, well it was fucking bouncing up and down like it was on some kind of piston.

Ryan did acknowledge him, but not completely. He too kept on looking straight ahead, but as his eyes had flicked over all of the faces, taking everyone in, they had stayed upon Miguel for a just a second longer than everyone else, then he had carried on following Schillinger towards his pod – right across from Miguel’s. Fuck.

Miguel waited for a moment before getting up and going to hide in his pod. Martinez was luckily elsewhere, so he would at least have some time to himself, some time to sit and watch Ryan undisturbed.

He had just gone into his own pod after saying thanks or whatever to that fat balding fuck, getting himself settled in. The way he moved, dumping his stuff on the bed, placing his toilet paper and toiletries on the shelf, making sure not to touch anything of his pod mate’s, Miguel could tell, he’d been inside before.

It shouldn’t really surprise him though. After all, Ryan had told him he’d been in a gang, just like himself. He just, well he guessed cause Ryan had been the one to come on to him, the one to take him home and give him the best night of his life that he didn’t really seem like the convict type. He was too gentle, too affectionate to be compared to the rest of _cabrones_ in this place.

And now Ryan was looking at him, like really looking at him. He was standing at the door to his pod, giving the impression of just taking everything in, but really he was looking at him.

They stared at each other for what felt like forever, Miguel wanting nothing more than to reach out and pull him to close, to touch him, to kiss him… God! He’d thought he’d gotten all of that out of his system. I mean, it had been months since he’d gone to that club. And it was the only time he’d gone there. He hadn’t felt the need to after. Ryan had been enough for him, more than enough.

Man, they’d stayed up the whole night fucking and talking, and then fucking some more and then talking some more. Miguel hadn’t wanted to leave. He’d wanted to stay there in that little cocoon that he and Ryan had created. It had felt amazing, no beyond amazing to let himself go to Ryan, to give over all control and just experience the pleasure.

But he couldn’t. He’d had to go home before people started to ask questions. Ryan too it seemed. They swapped numbers though, made promises to see each other again. But with Miguel getting himself arrested two weeks later, they’d never got the chance and he’d pretty much done his best to forget all about Ryan. Of course, he hadn’t expected to be more or less living with the guy though.

He saw Ryan turn away from him and make up his bed, watched as those perfect hands of his moved over the thin mattress, tucking in the sheet perfectly. Man he wanted those fingers on him, wanted to feel them once more.

Sitting at the foot of the bed, he held onto one of the posts and just rested his forehead on it, letting the cool metal settle him somewhat. He had to keep his head. He had managed to keep this all a secret on the outside, he should be able to do the same in here too.

Deciding to distract himself, he grabbed his laundry. He was running out of clean underwear anyway and it would mean that he could stare at the spinning of the machine rather than a certain Irish man.

Keeping his head down, he made his way over to the laundry room, found himself a machine and dumped his stuff inside. Once it started he grabbed his magazine and jumped on top, making sure to keep his back to everyone else.

He was probably in there for about fifteen, twenty minutes before the door opened. He didn’t bother looking up, too engrossed in making it look like he was reading instead.

“You know it’s probably not the safest thing to sit with your back to the door.”

Miguel let his eyes fall shut, letting out a soft sigh as he the sound of that voice washed over him. Trust his luck for the one man he was trying to avoid to walk in.

“Probably not,” he agreed as he shut his magazine and finally looked up to see Ryan standing there looking at him.

Ryan was, as usual, ignoring all the rules about personal space, rules that in here were even more important, but the man just didn’t seem to care.

“So, how long you been in here?” Ryan asked as he leaned his hip against the machines.

“Couple of months,” Miguel told him with a shrug.

“Ah, so that’d explain why I never saw you again,” Ryan said as he reached out and wrapped his hand around Miguel’s shin, making sure to keep the contact out of view from everyone else.

“Ryan,” Miguel said, “You know we can’t.”

Ryan sighed, “Yeah I know,” he said as he removed his hand, “No one knows then, that you’re… y’know, gay?”

“Will you keep your fucking voice down?” Miguel hissed as he looked over his shoulder.

“I’ll take that as a no then,” Ryan grinned, and God, if Miguel didn’t want to kiss that smile right off his face.

“Well do people know that you’re…”

“Fuck no,” Ryan said with a small laugh, “Well… Dino Ortalani knew but that’s…”

“What?” Alvarez asked, “How did he know?”

Ryan looked at him for a moment, as if debating whether he could trust him or not before he answered, “We used to fuck each other,” he said, “But, he was a homophobic little prick. He’s always freak out after and try and hit me or something, threaten me with a painful death if I ever told anyone… he was more trouble than he was worth.”

Miguel nodded. He didn’t really like the idea of Ryan fucking other guys, but he supposed, it wasn’t like he had any claim to the guy. But then a horrifying thought came into his head, “Ryan you didn’t have him killed did you?” he asked, “Cause if the Wops find out…”

“Don’t be ridiculous. I didn’t kill or order anyone to kill him. I’m smarter than that,” he said as he wrapped his hand around his ankle again.

“Maybe so,” Miguel said with a smile, “Don’t mean you didn’t plant some little seed inside Keane’s head, make him think it was his idea.”

“You honestly think I’m that sly?”

“Ryan, I spent an entire night with you in your bed,” Miguel said, “I know just how persuasive you can be.”

Ryan gave him a grin at that and squeezed his shin and letting go again, “Catch you later Miguel,” he said with a wink before walking out and leaving him on his own.

Miguel watched him go out of the corner of his eye, a small smile of his own on his lips. When the door closed he let his head fall back and stared up at the ceiling, “Shit. I’m so fucked.”

~*~*~*~*~*~

“Why the hell you so quiet?” Carlos asked him.

Miguel shrugged, “Just this stuff with the baby is all. Got my head in a spin.”

“You know you gotta man up and be there for your baby _hermano_ ,” Carlos told him, “And when you get out, you marry that girl too.”

Miguel sighed, watching as Ryan headed into his pod, “Yeah I know,” he said as he stood, “I’ll be back in a minute.”

“Hey, where you going?” Guerra asked him.

“O’Reilly owes me money from a game of checkers,” he lied as he headed over to said man’s pod.

They had been living in Em City together for a couple of weeks now, and had so far managed to avoid being alone like this. They knew it wouldn’t look good in regards to the other prisoners and that they would either think they were fucking (which they actually weren’t no matter how much they wanted to) or that Miguel was double dealing, which would just get him killed. So contact had been kept to a minimum but today, now, Miguel needed a friendly face to talk to.

“Can I come in?” he asked as he opened the door.

Ryan looked up from where he’d been sorting out his laundry, “Like you need to ask,” he said with a smile, “Everything alright?” he then asked, knowing that Miguel would only come in here if he had to.

“Yeah,” Miguel nodded, “Sort of.”

Ryan frowned at him.

“Before I start, I told them you owed me money so can you give me some paper or something, make it look like you’re paying me.”

Ryan smiled and reached into his pocket, pulling out a bundle of notes. He removed two, folded them and stepped forward until he was right in front of Miguel and slipped his hand into the pocket of Miguel’s pants, depositing the money.

“And just what do I owe you for?” he asked in a voice that was so intoxicating, that Miguel nearly came in his pants right there.

“Checkers.”

Ryan quirked an eyebrow at him but didn’t argue, instead taking a step back and leaning one arm on the top bunk as he stared at Miguel, “So what’s eating at you?”

Miguel copied his stance as he ran his hand through his hair and sighed, “I met my grandfather for the first time today.”

“Yeah?” Ryan asked, “Why’d it take so long?”

“He’s been in solitary since before I was born,” Miguel explained, “My Dad’s in here too. About twenty years ago some Haitian dude cut out my Dad’s tongue, so my grandfather cut out his heart and bought himself a one way ticket to solitary,” he added with a shrug.

Ryan frowned, “So you’re following the family tradition then? Getting sent to Oz?”

Miguel laughed slightly, “Well the tradition ain’t just getting sent to Oz. It’s getting sent to Oz and leaving your kid on the outside with no father.”

Ryan stood up straight in surprise, “You got kids?”

“Not exactly. My girlfriend is pregnant,” he told him, “That’s what the meet with my father and grandfather was all about. They think I should go to the birth. Mukada’s trying to arrange it.”

“You don’t wanna go to the birth?” Ryan asked as he turned away from him, busying himself with putting away his laundry again.

Miguel sighed, realising that he’d probably upset Ryan. He’d thought he’d known he had a girlfriend, after all, he’d found out that Ryan was married, to girl name Shannon no less, the same Shannon who’s name he had tattooed on his arm, the same Shannon who when Miguel had asked who she was Ryan had said ‘nobody’.

“I don’t know, what I’m gonna do. Maritza, she’s in Parker, so they baby will go live with her Mom and I’ll probably not see it again til I get paroled. I don’t really see the point.”

Ryan turned to look at him again, “You get parole in two years right?” he asked.

“Yeah,” Miguel nodded.

“Well, when you get out, you’re gonna have to be there and take care of it. You don’t want it to grow up without a father like you did right?”

“Course not, I just… through the whole pregnancy, I’ve not really given a shit. So I just don’t see why I should start now. I mean, yeah the baby should have a father, but I don’t know if I’m the right guy for the job.”

Ryan sighed and sat down on his bunk, gesturing for Miguel to sit on the chair opposite him, “You care about your girlfriend right?” he asked to which Miguel nodded, “Well if you think you can care just as much about the baby, then you are the right guy for the job.”

Miguel sighed and slumped back against his chair, looking out at the other inmates for a moment before he spoke again, “You and Shannon got kids?” he asked.

“Uh, no,” Ryan said with a slight shake of his head, “Shannon… can’t.”

“Oh. Sorry.”

Ryan shrugged, “It’s okay,” he said, “I’m in here for at least twelve, so it’s probably for the best right?”

Miguel gave him a small nod and the two of them fell into a comfortable silence for a few minutes before Ryan spoke again, “So your grandfather, he’s been in solitary since before you were born, but only for twenty years?”

“Yeah,” Miguel nodded, wondering where he was going with this.

“How old are you?” Ryan asked him curiously.

“Nineteen. Why?”

“Fuck. Nineteen?” Ryan asked, “Christ, you’re just a baby.”

“How old are you?” Miguel asked, wondering why Ryan was freaking out like that.

“I’m twenty six,” Ryan told him with a pain-filled look, obviously feeling that seven years was too large of a gap.

Miguel just snorted in amusement though, “So you’re like my Sugar Daddy or somethin then huh?”

Luckily, Ryan saw the funny side to it too, “Well you keep coming and asking me for money, then yeah I suppose I am.”

As Miguel looked at him, he could feel those sparkling green eyes of his pulling him in again, making him want to wrap himself around him and just get lost on the feel of his skin.

“I should probably go,” he said quietly.

“Yeah, wouldn’t want everyone getting suspicious,” Ryan nodded, even though neither of them made a move.

A few seconds later though, Ryan’s podmate came in, breaking the spell between them.

“So we got a rematch or not?” Ryan asked, “Gotta give me a chance to win that money back.”

Miguel, half way out of the pod smiled at him, “I’ll think about it,” he said, knowing fine well they weren’t talking about checkers.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Miguel was sitting under the stairs, hiding away from everyone as much as he could. The homeboys had come around, wanting to use the space to snort some tits, but Miguel had scared them off, telling them that the hacks were watching. A blatant lie, but still, it did the trick.

Why was he hiding? Well, that was because he’d just got off the phone from Maritza. Sister Pete had organised it for him so he could talk to her and tell her he was coming to the birth. But, Maritza had shot him down. Told him not to bother as the baby wasn’t his. She even asked him if she thought she was so stupid that she would let some faggot impregnate her. Miguel hadn’t listened to any more after that, hanging up on her and demanding to be taken back to Em City. He’d been hiding ever since.

However, as lucky as he had been to be left alone for an hour or so, inevitably, a couple of other junkies came looking for somewhere to get high. And those two were none other than Tobias Beecher and his Sugar Daddy himself.

Ryan took one look at him, noticing straight away that something was wrong and his entire demeanour changed. He gave Beecher the drugs and told him to get lost, that he’d find him later.

Beecher just nodded and traipsed off to find somewhere else to get high, leaving Ryan alone with Miguel.

“That your new boyfriend?” Miguel asked, as it was no secret that the two were close and people were wondering just how close, Miguel included.

“Fuck no,” Ryan said as he sat down beside him and pulled out a cigarette, “In case you haven’t noticed, I prefer the Mediterranean look.”

Miguel didn’t answer him, but did accept the cigarette off of him when it was offered.

“So, you gonna tell me what happened?” Ryan asked softly.

”Baby ain’t mine,” Miguel told him.

“Shit.”

“Yeah,” Miguel nodded, “Not only that but she knows… I don’t know how she knows, but she does. Called me a _maricon_.”

“So, that doesn’t mean she knows anything,” Ryan said with a shrug, “She could just be mouthing off.”

“No. I know her. Been with her since I was thirteen. The way she said it… she knows.”

Ryan sighed and took another drag of the cigarette, “Well, that aside… I’m sorry about the baby. Got no idea how you must be feeling but if you need anything…”

Miguel turned to him and placed a hand on his thigh, “Fuck me?” he asked.

“Miguel…”

“Please Ryan. I can’t… I need to feel something other than all this, feel something good. And I miss you.”

He stared up at Ryan, their faces close enough that he could feel Ryan’s breath on his face, close enough to kiss. Ryan stubbed out the cigarette and reached up gently cup his face, stroking his fingers along his jaw, offering him more comfort than he realised.

“I’m going to the library,” he said, placing the softest of kisses on his lips, “Follow me in five minutes.”

Nodding, Miguel pulled back and watched as Ryan got up and made to leave, “There’s a storage closet just before you get to the library for damaged books. I’ll be waiting.”

After Ryan left, Miguel found his mood changing completely, where he’d felt beyond depressed before, he was getting excited now. He was going to be with Ryan again, feel his hands and lips on him once more. Finally.

Standing up, he left the safety of his hiding place and made his way towards his pod. There were a couple of things he would need to get first. However, on his way, he was stopped by Carlos.

“Where’ve you been?” Carlos asked him.

“Nowhere,” he said, “I just needed some time on my own.”

Carlos frowned at him.

“The baby ain’t mine.”

“Shit Miguel,” Carlos said, clapping him on the shoulder, “Come on, we’ll take your mind off it.”

“Oh, but I gotta go to the library,” he said, not realising until he said it how that sounded.

“The library? What’s in the library?”

“Well there’s this book I really wanna read about workin in hospitals. Figured it’d help me with my work duties,” he lied, “But I can just get it tomorrow.”

He knew there was no way he was going to get away from Carlos, so he’d just have to go with him. Ryan would probably be pissed at him, but he’d understand. Hopefully.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Miguel had been working in the hospital all morning, so he’d not had the chance to speak to Ryan yet, but from what he’d seen of him so far, he was really pissed. He knew it was his fault and that he needed to fix it, he just didn’t know how.

Walking into the cafeteria for lunch, he noticed Ryan a couple of people in front of him. It was only Rebadow and Groves that were standing between them, so he knew he could push in front of them without worrying about any repercussions.

“O’Reilly,” he said as he pushed past, “Hey O’Reilly I need to talk to you.”

Ryan looked over his shoulder at him, “I’ve got nothing to say to Alvarez.”

Miguel almost backed off at that, the way he said ‘Alvarez’, full of so much venom had startled him, but he was nothing if not determined and so tried again.

“Look, Carlos wouldn’t let me go,” he explained, “He was annoyed that I’d been hiding all day and wanted to console me about the baby.”

Ryan didn’t say anything, just kept moving forward, eyes focussed on the man in front of him.

“Ryan, please,” Miguel pleaded, reaching out with his left hand to take hold of Ryan’s, knowing that the contact would be hidden by their bodies and the wall, “I’m really sorry.”

Ryan let him hold his hand for a minute before he pulled it away and turned his head to look at him, “An hour,” he hissed, “I waited in there for you for an hour.”

“I know, and I really wanted to come,” Miguel whispered back, “But I couldn’t. You know what it’s like.”

“See that’s where we’re different Miguel,” Ryan said as he turned to face him completely, not caring who could hear him or not, “I’m my own man. I don’t let no one tell me what I can and can’t do. You should try it sometime.”

There were quite a few people watching them now, including Carlos and the rest of El Norte, so Miguel didn’t reply and instead watched Ryan walk away, telling the hacks he wasn’t hungry and going back to Em City.

Shit. Miguel didn’t know what to do. He had tried to apologise, but Ryan didn’t want to hear it. What was he supposed to do now? He supposed, a guy like Ryan, who like he said, was his own man, had given in to Miguel’s request, something he probably never did, only to have it thrown back in his face.

And now of course, his ‘friends’ were looking at him strangely, Carlos whispering something to Guerra. That couldn’t be good. Deciding he wasn’t hungry either, he about turned and left the cafeteria.

When he got back, he just headed straight for his pod. There were a few inmates about, including Ryan who was in his own pod, but Miguel knew he wouldn’t want to speak to him right now, so he let him be and threw himself down onto his bunk, face buried in the pillow.

He stayed like that for a while, hoping that everyone would just fuck off and leave him alone. They did, and he eventually fell asleep, only to be woken up by Guerra of all people.

“Come on, Carlos needs to talk to you,” he said as he turned and left the pod.

Miguel pushed himself up, realising that Carlos probably wanted to know what the fuck he and Ryan had been talking about earlier, he wracked his brain to try and come up with something as he got up and followed Chico.

He led them out towards the gym. Miguel didn’t really think anything of it as Carlos enjoyed working out, plus they could speak pretty freely while in there. However, when he got there, he soon realised all was not quite right.

There were no hacks, and all the inmates were Latino.

“What’s up?” Miguel asked, trying not to let his worry show.

“You know my cousin Alvaro right?”

Miguel nodded, “ _Si_. His girl’s best friends with Maritza. We used to hang out all the time.”

Carlos nodded as he stepped forward, cupping Miguel’s face in his hands, “And it never occurred to you, that they would follow you, that they would find out you were a _maricon_?”

“Carlos I…”

“They followed you Miguel. They saw you go into that faggot club, they saw you leave with some white boy, followed you as you drove to his apartment.”

Miguel looked down at the ground, unable to face the man who just might be about to kill him, “It was only once,” he said, knowing that there was no point in denying it.

“Maybe so,” Carlos said as he slapped him on the shoulder and stepped back, “But you’ve been behaving strangely for a while now so I got Alvaro to do some digging, find out who this man was and it turns out that the apartment you followed him into, is owned by a man named O’Reilly.”

Miguel snapped his head up, not caring if he was showing fear on his face or not, “Don’t hurt him. Please.”

Carlos smiled and shook his head, “Just once?” he asked, “You telling me that you and Ryan O’Reilly haven’t been fucking each other since he got transferred into Em City.”

“I promise Carlos, nothing has happened. We’ve barely even spoke to each other let alone fucked.”

“So what was all that about at lunch?” Carlos asked him, “What were you two whispering about?”

Miguel lowered his head again, trying to fight the tears he knew were coming. He shook his head at Carlos, unwilling to tell him the subject of their conversation. It was private and he owed Ryan that much.

“Fine Miguel, have it your way,” Carlos said as he stood back and waved his hand at the others.

Miguel didn’t flinch, didn’t try to protect himself, just stood there and took it. It wasn’t long until he was knocked off his feet and he was gladly unconscious before his face connected with the floor.

~*~*~*~*~*~

He had no idea how long he was out for, but it had to be a while, cause when he woke up he was in the hospital.

“Oh good, you’re awake,” Dr Nathan said, making him turn his head to see her and McManus standing next to him, “How are you feeling?”

“Like someone beat the shit out of me,” he said as she pulled out a light and started shining it in his eyes.

“Well you’ll be happy to know, that you didn’t break anything, but you do have a concussion so I’m keeping you in overnight.”

“Gee just what I wanted to hear,” he said sarcastically as she stepped back.

“Miguel,” McManus said, moving closer, “You know who did this to you?”

Miguel stared at him for a moment before nodding slightly, “Yeah, yeah I do.”

McManus nodded, knowing that he probably wouldn’t get anymore out of Miguel about it, “You need me to move you to protective custody?” he asked.

“Nah, it’s okay. If they wanted me dead, I’d be dead. I’ll be alright.”

“Okay, but if you need anything…”

“There is something,” Miguel said, earning a curious look from both McManus and Dr Nathan, “Can I see Ryan?”

“Ryan?” McManus asked, “As in O’Reilly?”

“Yeah. I need to talk to him,” he explained, “Please, it’s important.”

It was clear by the way he was looking at him that McManus wanted to know why Miguel needed to see Ryan, and that he knew Miguel wouldn’t come out and just tell him, so the next best thing to do, would be to let him talk to Ryan. Miguel wasn’t stupid, but McManus clearly thought he was as he nodded and told one of the hacks to go get him.

“Are you hungry?” Dr Nathan asked him, “From what I hear you missed lunch and it’s well past lockdown now.”

“I’m okay,” he said, “Besides, my mouth is too sore to think about eating.”

Dr Nathan smiled at that, “Fine, but just know I’m not happy about it,” she told him.

Miguel gave her a weak smile and settled back into his pillow to wait for Ryan. Dr Nathan was one of the few members of staff he liked, the others being Sister Pete and Father Mukada, although those two always made him feel guilty, most religious types did. But Dr Nathan treated him like an equal, well mostly she did unless he was being difficult, which he tended not to be as he respected the women. Took a lot of balls to do the job she did. He certainly wouldn’t do it if it had been him, comin in and having to patch up ungrateful and violent inmates who had no qualms about killing to get what they wanted. Nah, that weren’t for him… which is probably why McManus had put him on orderly duty.

“Okay, I’m here. What’s the big emergency?”

Miguel looked up to see Ryan standing there, looking bored.

“Miguel was found in the gym,” McManus said as he gestured to the bed.

Ryan though, made no sign that he even knew a Miguel, showing no reaction to this news. He’d probably heard what had happened already anyway.

“So?” he asked with a shrug of his shoulders.

“He asked to see you,” McManus explained.

Ryan rolled his eyes at that and walked over to him, “What is it?” he asked his voice sounding harsh, but Miguel to tell by the look in his eyes, the way they darted over his face and arms that now he actually saw how bad the beating was, he was a little concerned.

“Carlos knows,” Miguel said, clenching his fist to stop himself from reaching out for his hand.

“Shit,” Ryan hissed, his body language completely changing from defensive to protective almost instantly, “How?”

“I was followed,” Miguel explained, “They followed me to the club, saw me go in, saw me leave with you then the followed us back to your brother’s apartment.”

“Okay,” Ryan nodded, “But that doesn’t mean they actually know it was me… unless you told them.”

“I didn’t tell them shit Ryan,” Miguel hissed, “I swear. Carlos’ cousin found out the name of the guy that owned the apartment. Your brother’s name.”

Ryan sighed and looked down at the floor.

“If I could take it back I would,” Miguel continued, “I know how much reputation means in here and well, being a fag…”

“It’s okay Miguel,” he said as he reached out and took his hand, “It’s not your fault. And whether I like to suck cock or not, I’m still not someone people will mess with. And neither are you.”

Miguel snorted in amusement at that, “Yeah right. People ain’t gonna respect me Ryan. I barely had any to start with.”

“Trust me, you will,” Ryan said as he leaned forward until his face was mere inches away from Miguel’s, “I’m gonna take care of this okay. I promise, nothing bad is ever going to happen to you again,” he added before placing a soft kiss on Miguel’s lips, then his nose, then his forehead, “I’ll see you tomorrow okay?”

“Yeah okay,” Miguel nodded, a little bit in shock at the public display of affection and the fact that Ryan said he was going to ‘take care of it’. He wondered just what that meant.

He watched as Ryan walked away and straight up to McManus, the words, “We need to talk,” leaving his mouth before he was dragged back to Em City.

Miguel knew Ryan wouldn’t rat on El Norte, he was smarter than that, but he couldn’t quite figure out just what it was he would need to talk to McManus about then.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Dr Nathan actually kept him in the hospital for two days. She said she wanted to just make sure he was strong enough to walk on his own before discharging him. He didn’t really mind as at least he had his father and the likes of Groves and the other orderlies to keep him company, but he was desperate to get back to Em City to find out what was going on.

However, just before he was discharged, the sound of an alarm signalling lockdown, floated through the gates to the hospital wing. Great that was just what he needed. He wouldn’t find out anything locked in his pod with Martinez. If anything, it would actually be detrimental to his health if he got locked in with him as the man was known to be a little bit unhinged.

“Come on Alvarez,” the hack shouted, “We ain’t got all day.”

“Yeah, yeah I’m comin,” he said as he jumped down off the bed, holding out his arm for the nurse to cut off the tag around his wrist.

He was still pretty sore and stiff so walking wasn’t exactly a pleasant experience. His hack seemed to think he was being deliberately difficult as he kept glaring at him, but Miguel didn’t even try to speed up. He couldn’t. It hurt to God damn much.

When they finally made it into Em City, he was instantly hit by how quiet it was. Usually during lockdown he was in his pod having a conversation, but this, with the only noise coming from his shuffling feet and all those faces staring at him. It was just creepy.

He made his way over to his pod, only glancing at Carlos (who was standing watching him) once before looking away just as quickly again. The hack opened the pod door for him, which he was actually very thankful for since his wrist was sprained and rather painful.

When he stepped inside however, he froze in utter surprise. Sitting on Martinez’s bed, wasn’t Martinez, but Ryan.

“Hey roomie,” Ryan said with a soft smile, “How you feelin?”

“Fine. What happened to Martinez?” Miguel asked.

“I asked McManus to swap us,” Ryan explained as he jumped down to face him, “But you should probably know that Martinez had a little accident today.”

Miguel looked behind him, “The lockdown?” he asked.

Ryan nodded, “Jefferson Keane’s the one to blame I believe.”

It was then that Miguel realised, just how dangerous Ryan was. He was obviously responsible for this and no doubt, everyone knew about it too.

“He’ll get the death penalty,” Miguel said.

“Yeah well, it’s no more than he deserves. The guy had Dino burned… alive. And no one forced him to kill Martinez. He could just have easily broke his jaw and knocked him out. He’s the one that made that decision. Says a lot about a man, who when faced with that choice, decides to take a life.”

Miguel sighed, “Yeah I know. I just… I don’t want anything to happen to you,” he admitted, “If Keane talks…”

“He won’t. And besides, he doesn’t know that I had anything to do with it. No one does. Apart from you that is,” he said as he stepped forward and wrapped a hand around the back of Miguel’s neck, “Look, I don’t want to talk about Martinez or Keane or anyone else.”

“What do you wanna do then?” Miguel asked him, his own hands gently settling on Ryan’s hips.

Ryan smiled and leaned down, kissing his still sore lips softly, eliciting a quiet moan from him in the process.

“Ryan,” he said as he pushed him back a little, “As much as I want to, I’m still a little sore.”

Ryan nodded, “I know baby,” he said as he kissed him again, “And we’re not gonna do anything but get to know each other again. Come on,” he added as he sat down on Miguel’s bunk, pulling him down with him.

Ryan lay down and pulled Miguel down on top of him. Not caring if it looked girly or not, Miguel snuggled close, curling himself around him, “So what do you want to know?” he asked.

“I don’t know,” Ryan said with a frown before turning his head slightly to lock eyes with Miguel, “What’s your favourite colour?”

THE END


End file.
